Sunderland 1 Rotherham United 1: Story of the day after Michael Ihiekwe own goal hands Cats a point in League One play-off race
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Rotherham defender Michael Ihiekwe opened the scoring when he headed home a corner in the first half, while Sunderland struggled to create chances in the opening 45 minutes.
Alex Neil made some attacking substitutions in the second half, with Alex Pritchard, Jack Clarke and Elliot Embleton entering the fray.
Yet it took until the 88th minute for the hosts to draw level when Ihiekwe headed Clarke’s cross into his own net.
Here’s how the game played out:
RECAP: Sunderland 1 (Ihiekwe, own goal, 88) Rotherham 1 (Ihiekwe, 17)
Key Events
- Sunderland XI: Patterson, Batth, Wright, Doyle, Hume (Clarke, 60), Evans, Matete (Embleton, 70), Gooch, O’Nien, Broadhead (Pritchard, 53), Stewart
- Subs: Hoffmann, Xhemajli, Neil, Clarke, Roberts, Embleton, Pritchard
- Rotherham XI: Johansson, Edmonds-Green, Wood, Ihiekwe; Harding, Rathbone (Lindsay, 79), Barlaser, Osei-Tutu (Mattock, 76), Wiles, Ogbene, Smith
- Subs: Chapman, Mattock, Bola, Odoffin, Lindsay, Kayode, Kelly.
How Rotherham are shaping up
Rotherham had encountered a tricky spell which saw them win just one of seven league games, yet they have won two of their last three fixtures to move back up to second in the table.
To find out more we caught up with Leon Wobschall from our sister title The Yorkshire Post - here’s what he said when asked about the side’s recent form:
“The Millers have shown real guts and character to get over the line in their last two home games amid testing circumstances and much tension against Oxford and Ipswich - and have looked more like their old selves in terms of energy, intensity and aggression, especially in the second halves of both.
“Away from home, it’s been a different story of late. They have been uncharacteristically poor and passive in successive defeats at Burton and Portsmouth. They conceded a total of five goals in both those games. For context, that total is as many as they have shipped in their previous 19 League One away matches in the 2021/22 season. They have still let in just two first-half league goals on their travels this term.”
Read more HERE
Neil on this week’s matches
Here’s what Sunderland boss Alex Neil has had to say about this week’s games against Rotherham and Morecambe.
“Rotherham are fighting to get promoted.
“Both games are going to be equally as important, and equally as hard for different reasons. Both teams are fighting for their lives for different reasons.
“They’re going to be challenging in different ways, but we’re not picky where we win, we want to win them all. We’ll go into the next one and try to win it.
“Since I’ve walked in the door, everybody who speaks to me says how big the next game is.
“The simple fact is when you’re at Sunderland, every game’s a big game because the expectancy from the club and the fans is that we win every match, and that’s fine.
“I go into every game we play knowing we want to win, so we’ll be trying to win and trying to play as well as we can. It doesn’t change.”
As always we’ll start with the Sunderland team news.
Dennis Cirkin is set to miss tonight’s game with an injury, while Carl Winchester was forced off with a groin issue against Cambridge on Saturday.
Leon Dajaku has been unavailable through illness in recent weeks but Callum Doyle and Thorben Hoffmann have returned to the squad.
Alex Pritchard also came off the bench against Cambridge after missing three consecutive games with a calf issue.
It’s Matchday!
How are the nerves?
Sunderland are still trying to secure a play-off place with two games remaining in the regular League One season, with Rotherham United the visitors at the Stadium of Light tonight.
There could still be plenty of twists and turns in the race to finish in the top six, with Alex Neil’s side set to travel to Morecambe on the final day of the season on Saturday.
We’ll have all the build-up ahead of tonight’s match, as well as in-game analysis and post-match reaction.
Stick around and refresh the page for live updates.